Boeing 747 Cockpit

Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

A typical 747 has several hundred buttons, gauges, lights, and switches that help the pilots maintain control of the aircraft. Designed originally for Pan American to replace the 707, the giant Boeing 747 revolutionized long-distance air travel when it entered service in 1970. Carrying two and a half times more passengers than the 189-seat 707, the 400-seat 747 offered dramatically lower seat-mile costs and therefore much greater efficiency. Learn more about America by Air.